john999

skip references to CFR's. Just hand your IMO to the C&P doctor. Just present yourself as you usually are and answer quesions fully. Avoid simple "yes or no" answers. Elaborate on your conditions. If your conditions are physical conditions your records will probably speak for themselves but tell them about pain, lack of sleep, anxiety, depression etc. This is your chance to really tell the VA doctor about your day to day existence and how your disability affects you. Tell him how your problems affect your job, home life and all aspects of your life in you can cram it in in a 15 minute exam. Keep talking. John

They consider the amount of bedrest you have had to do in back claims. The Exam is about ROM. If it hurts don't bend that way. Let the doctor know the instant you have pain on exam. I say this because vets get injured during exams sometimes.

Great news! I remember posting on Hadit when I did not even know what TDIU was and in a few years I had it. John

The VA can get you the drugs by hook or by crook. Pain clinic said I could not get cymbalta but I got it from mental health . I also got lyrica. You doctor has to justify it but some of these doctors are just too lazy or don't want to rock the boat.

You should get IU retro back to your effective date. Probably January 2011 if I understand all the details. Do you owe VA any money?

SSDI is a job program for lawyers and administrative judges to keep them from being homeless. The claimants are at the bottom of the list. Same with VA which employs all these raters and judges to eventually give vets what they should have gotten in a couple of months. VBA is a jobs program for ex-insurance claims examiners and lawyers who just could not make it in the real world. How does the BVA and Court of Veteran Appeals justify their existence?......the remand.

All I can say is that about 10 years ago I asked the VA pain management clinic for celebrex or vioxx and they gave me morphine instead. Since that time I have been on morphine, methadone, oxycodone, and fentanyl. Now oxycodone is considered the number one drug that is abused in Florida with hydrocodone a close second. I used to get 180 oxycodone a month. Now I just get 120. I feel like the VA is putting a target on my back. I have been on the contract for years and never violated it. If I am addicted the VA was the drug pusher that made it all possible.

The VA should actually infer TDIU when they have evidence that a vet is unemployable due to a SC condition, but they never do in reality. I get this from the VBM with an example of a vet who has stinking feet due to SC condition. The sooner a vet files the TDIU claim form the sooner he/she protects the earliest effective date. Hospital admissions can sometimes act as an informal claim for TDIU. It did in my case and I got an EED on my TDIU.

Being "S" I guess they made you P&T. If they did not they should have so you don't to worry about future exams. I have never talked to anyone who got IU that was reduced later. Have you filed for SSD? We all get geared up to fight the VA for 20 years and when we win there is a gap to fill.

If these Gulf, OIF presumptives resemble AO the list will grow with time. Are there any presumptives for OEF? I can't believe that in time some sorts off chronic illness won't arise from exposure to environment of Afghanistan. If a soldier eats anything or drinks anything apart from what they get from USA they will get dysentary. It was chronic in Vietnam for soldiers in the field. The AO list has grown over the years and should probably cover all cancers. If there was more research on these presumptives there would be many more listed for all these wars. The VA has vested interest in not knowing. They don't do their own research on presumptives.

I had to file a CUE when I found about IU plus 60%= housebound. I got my IU plus 60% about one year ago when this was being sorted out in the courts. I am glad the VA is granting HB when a vet gets total plus 60%. I would bet the VA has not gone back and looked at the many cases of vets with total plus 60% and granted HB with retro. I got two years of retro HB.

Having that money in the bank really helps when you need a new roof, car blows up or the plumbing stops working. You don't have to worry about paying for things you actually need.

Chronic pain disorder involves more than just pain. It usually involves depression, sleep disorder, and downward spiral of interaction between physical pain and mental pain. People with chronic pain disorder are miserable and often on narcotics without great effect.

Are you a Gulf War vet? I think presumptives for IBS are for Gulf War Vets. If your IBS is presumptive all you have to do is claim it and the VA will set you up for a C&P to determine if you have it and how bad. If I were going to claim a presumptive condition I would send in the claim with some medical documentation that I have IBS and that I am Gulf War vet. Have you had C&P exams for your neck and hearing? I don't know that much about Gulf War presumptives but I know about Agent Orange presumptives and I have claimed them, so I know how presumptive claims go. They are cut and dried if you have the condition.

It is probably a mistake.

I got a lawyer to represent me because of the potential retro. If you can point out the potential retro of your claim you might find it easier to get a lawyer to represent you at the BVA. My BVA claim was denied and I had a lawyer, so just appeal and stay inside the time limits for appeals.

Bronco That is a good post. This is part of VA's "go directly to jail, don't pass go" philosophy and tactics that are really kept secret from most vets. This is why I hired a NVLSP qualified lawyer for my CUE because I suspected there was much I did not know about VA "Dark Energy". All this secret crap is used to top "benefit of doubt" and keep VBA in an adversarial relationship with vets.

If you have a good PCP you can get access to testing including MRI's, CT scans etc. If you have an uncaring PCP you get squat. You more often you go to the VAMC and the more you complain the more treatment you get in my experience. I am sure glad I have medicare because I hate waiting and having to struggle with getting physical access to my VAMC. The VA is better than nothing and that is about all I can say for them.

Bigred Good luck on this and keep us up to date. I,too, stood in line and got the shots from the gun. I saw guys with blood just soaking their tee shirts. If you had a transfusion while in service I think that is pretty good evidence. My question is do vets filing this type of claim get benefit of doubt? You deserve benefit of doubt.

Yes, have you applied for SSD?

I turn 62 this month so I am going to see if OPM automatically recalculates my disability annuity. I should not have the offset after this month, but I bet I have to call them to remind the OPM. My pension is about 33% of my base pay when I retired. This is not a whole lot of money, but if it is added to SSD, and VA I will be doing OK.

The big issue is if you retired on FERS or CSRS.

I agree with what Carlie has said about this claim. I know the doctor means well, but I have a feeling the VA will fight this and it won't be a slam/dunk. That does not mean you won't win. Filing claims with the VA is a learning process. When you make one of these claims you are saying the VA was negligent. They don't like this even if it is true. Do you have any tattoos? Do you get benefit of doubt with this type of claim?

If a vet is HB should they not get Fee Base as well? If the VA takes their ratings seriously then a HB or A&A vet should be getting maximum home care. Also, no driving 50-100 miles to some VAMC. The vet should be able to get care at closest point. This is my logic,but knowing the VA they disagree.

As soon as I got TDIU I was eligible for dental before I got P&T. In fact, I got reimbursed for dental care I paid for while my TDIU claim was on appeal. I went to Fee Base and put in a claim for reimbursement as "Unauthorized expense". I got paid! It took 6 months to get $2400. You are also eligible for vision care if you are TDIU or 100% and you don't have to be P&T. I got these benefits while my denial of Chapter 35 was on appeal.